The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1887-10-13
platform, evidently awaiting the coming

platform, evidently awaiting the coming
In Of Q train. Mrs Seymour saw
them and could not be induced to leave
the car lest bad luck should follow her.
For two hours she kept her seat while
the religious ladies paced patiently up
and down the passageway until . train
brought them other members Of their
erder whom they had come to meet.
Then Mrs. Seymour disembarked among
q labyrinth Of rails and switches, the
coach she was in having been side
tracked. To touch humpback's hump
without the owner seeing. you is to the
profession an act that will surely be re-
paid with good luck. Sad, indeed, will
be the manager who receives the first
ticket Of admission to his entertainment
in the shape of o pass, for 1t augurs
that no profit will be made that night.
Equally unfortunate will 1t be II wo-
man is the purchaser of the first
ticket sold, while negro, the blacker he
is the better, If he be the advance Of the
audience, will be hailed with genuine
pleasure, though he only pays for
the most modest seat In the theatre,
for he is the precursor Of "big house."
So, too, with companies-they have their
"Mascots" and "Jonahs," members who
are considered messengers of success or
failure. To have them in the one case or
the other is to experience q money-mak-
ing trip or q dismal wind-up of the en-.
gagement.
Gus persons is made by the actors and
The reputation of the "Mascot" Is not
o6 loof hot ~ hn h "
Once an actor or actress ia con-
sidered unlucky and dubbed "Jo-
nah," term applied to both sexes, he
or she is blamed for every unfortunate
turn affairs take, and as q result 1t is
only when there are no other avenues of
escape open that others of the profess
sion will have any business association
with them. The most prominent of this
class is an operatic prima donna, now
playing on the Pacific coast. 1t is no.
ticeable fact that every company
she has ever travelled with has
come to bankruptcy, and managers
who have backed her enterprises
have, one after another, lost money.
Colonel John McCaull, who had the
singer under contract, was 80 impressed
with her unlucky influences that after a
trial he paid her bonus and allowed her
to 60. The next manager who signed
her, though warned by his superstitious
brethren, was confident that the size of his
money pile and the Southern territory
through which his route was planned
were sufficiently strong to bring him
success. Before the season was ended
his bank account was swept away and
the organization of which the "Jonah"
was prima donna was disbanded. The
elder Booth never passed q church, no
matter what the denomination, without
lifting his hat. His impression was that
success followed the act.
Though not included in the category
of superstitious doings, peculiarities of
life and employment off the stage mark
some members of the profession equally
as strong as the confidence in signs stamps
others. Thus, for instance, the untiring
experiments of George Clarke in railroad
mechanism. He owns patent for
sleeping car berth, built after his own
fancy, which he claims must, by virtue of
its great worth, come ihegeneral use in
the future. The purpose of the in.
vention is to prevent the berth from
closing and smothering its occupant
while the train is in motion.
Frank Chapman is another who has q
uOuUy AOE IolAOdu potcuCe auu pTOpcAlluS
appliances for sailing vessels.
John A. Mackey, unquestionably the
foremost legitimate comedian on the En-
glish-speaking stage, contends in down
right earnestness that he is not in his
professional element, that he should be
q comedian.
Harry Edwards, last season at Wal
lacks, New York, dotes on bugs and in.
sects. He has an immense collection OF
them.
Lawrence Barrett dislikes vegetables
and makes his meals principally on meats.
Lysander Thompson, since he studied
medicine, wants to give q prescription
for everything and every one around any
theatre where he is.
John Burleigh, an ex-clergyman who
Joined the dramatic ranks, retains fea-
lures Of his previous calling and is never
done exhorting his companions to religi.
GUS convictions. Louis Aldrich is fit-
ting successor to the late John T. Ray.
mond in matching pennies. He has q
passion for that sort of gaming. The
theatrical world is indeed q sui generis-
nothing like it in literary excellence and
dark-minded conceits.
FELIX BARNLEY,